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Minor Update

We had a little slip up yesterday. I filed a small story about Tucker/other O linemen and then, right after I filed it, a few people called me back and I got better information. So I called Cindy and asked if we could "spike" - toss out - what I had filed and I would re-file the new story in a minute.
Well, ended up with the "spiked" version in the paper.

Nothing too major, except, Ed Mulitalo was in Detroit yesterday and scheduled to meet there thru this afternoon. He has visits to Seattle and Atlanta planned for next week and nothing with the Skins as of lunchtime today. The Skins have expressed interest and disucussed him internally and he has support within the orgnaization, but, frankly, I am surprised they did not get him in there right away or at least plan a visit by now.

I doubt he gets through all these visits without a contract and the Skins could still certainly sign him without bringing him in, but their interest has not been heated to this point. I know Casey Rabach would love to play with him again and I am told Earnest Byner - formerly with the Ravens - had good things to say about him as well.

Seems like a good fit, and we'll see where it goes this weekend.

Oh yeah, and I hear Todd Yoder has multiple offers on the table, including Washington (make of that what you will). I can't imagine any of them are for much more than the veteran minimum and he would seem to have a leg up on getting the job behind Cooley here, but maybe he could be more of a primary option elsewhere. Will let you know if I hear anything ekse

"McGahee is a couple of years younger than former starter Jamal Lewis, and he might put a little more pizazz in the rushing offense, but the trade is somewhat puzzling.

Soon after the 2006 season ended, top Ravens officials said they no longer were interested in mortgaging the present for the future, but they gave up third-round draft picks in 2007 and 2008 plus a seventh-round pick in April for McGahee.

As of today, they don't have a third- or fourth-round pick in April's draft because they gave up the latter in the trade for quarterback Steve McNair last offseason.

So, were the Ravens putting out a spin about a new philosophy or were they admitting that the window of opportunity was about to close because they mortgaged part of their future with the addition of McGahee?

"I've talked to Ozzie [Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome] and told him I don't like some of the things that have gone on," said the Ravens' Pro Bowl offensive tackle, Jonathan Ogden, who still hasn't decided yet if he will retire before next season."

What's your take on the Bly spin/delays? Are the Broncos negotiating with him on a long-term deal? Are they telling him to shut up because they can't trade him if he's bad-mouthing them? Has he even been introduced at a presser in Denver?

And, is it possible that the Skins/Broncos/Lions were negotiating a three way deal that was going to slowly for the Lions, they forced it, and now the Broncos are left with a player that they can only trade to the Redskins, now that Mr. Snyder's mentioned a few numbers to him?

"Bly update: We've heard mixed things on whether or not the Redskins would trade for Dre Bly. One source close to him in Detroit said he heard there was a possibility it could still happen, but said he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't occur until the draft. Also, he said Bly was initially disappointed with the trade to Denver but is an emotional guy and often says things without much thinking.

4th - one trade is not the Redskins, who dealt away 11 picks in three years my man. Also, the Ravens generally do more with the 5th round than Washington does with the second. Just a fact.

I think the Ravens are blowing this offseason, though, and if their owner front loaded a fwe more deals and did some of Snyder's restructurings by guarnateeing more base salary up front they wouldn't be in this position. Yeah, he doesn't have Snyder's revnue streams, but seems to me they are blowing it up there this winter.

KK- I wrote about the three-wayt trade talk on the blog like two weeks ago. It was definitely in play my man.

As for any holdup, this is just stanadard procedure. Denver is shopping him. Could keep him or could trade him but have given no indication of a long term deal that I am aware of.

Whether Bly gets dealt or not, many people inside Redskins Park expect the Broncos and Skins to be talking about swapping draft picks for the foreseable future, and there is no reason to think at some point players could not be part of such a deal as well.

As for Mulitalo, I doubt anyone has anything out there I don't. As for 90 minutes ago he had no meeting with the Skins planned, maybe that's changed since then but there was no immediate strong move by the Skins other than to express interest.

Espn tip sheet is reporting the TEXANS have a deal in place with the redskins to swap positions Pic 6 to pic 8 so the texans can draft Quinn who they think minnesota at 7 wants? Sorry Jason for scooping you?

Maybe we can invite denver to our "War" room on draft day so exchanging picks and players can be done in person. also we might be able to cheat off their draft grades on players like you cheated off the girl next to you on the math final in 9th grade.

KK - I use to be on MArc Fisher's blog, but I always felt it attracted the type of people who didn't see things the way I do. More of Suburban/New to the City people deal (Who think they are right on everything).

I get the feeling like this draft is going to either have a ton of trades happening or none at all. Although I guess that's the way it always works.

JLC, should the Skins make the deal for Denver's picks do you see them taking Greg Olsen, the TE from the U? We know Gibbs & Co. love the Miami guys and he probably has already hired Rosenhaus. Seems like there are a lot of guard prospects that we could get anywhere from rounds 2-4. Maybe Justin Blalock from Texas? Sound familiar?

It's awfully quiet in here today. It must be due to everyone leaving work early, in order to go home and rest up for the coming DST shabingus. Gotta love that modern technology. (In the old days, did people complain this much about having to climb up on chairs and change the clocks manually?)

Jason, isn't your new family member due to arrive very soon? Just wondering.

The Ravens probably got McGahee because they want a back who can do more than just 3 yards and a cloud of dust. He is probably about 15-20 lbs. more than Portis and should be a good fit for Bmore. How much they gave up to get him is open to debate. But they are going the Skins route with a number of guys from the U.

Think the Skins are in the market for more of a blocking TE. Olsen is def not in that category.

That deal for the Texans pick would be perfect, we'd get an extra pick or 2, and probably still get the guy we wanted at #6. Skins should pull the trigger immediately, but tip sheet says some league ppl think a deal is already in place if Quinn is there at #6 (Texans aren't that dumb)

Mulitalo's pretty far out of the 'Skins price range. I think he'll get $9 million to sign from someone, even at his age, in this market.

He's a pretty good guard and is one of the rare 6'3" 350 pounders in this league at that position. He's not somebody the 'Skins are going to get on the cheap, which is seemingly what they're looking for. Which is probably the smart thing to do because they already have 4 O-lineman earning good money.

-Walter, the chinaman who peed on my rug, I can't go give him a bill, so what the f#(@ are you talking about?

-"What the f*(% are you talking about? The chinaman is not the issue here, Dude. I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you DO NOT... Also, Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please."

I agree, keep it cheap for a guard, make it only a 1 year deal with an option for 2. We can find another cheap fill-in next year and/or develop a young guy from the draft. I'm really not sweating dock's replacement, it'll be some vet. I think the draft trades are the more exciting news right now

There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin, one slept on an elk skin, and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant, and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who
slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys.

This goes to prove that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.

If we're doing this deal with the Texans, then THERE BETTER be a 2nd involved with it. If, and its a big if, this happens, then I'm all for another retreat back to #10, or #12, and get another 2nd or a third.

I have to give kudos to the redskins organization. So far, no bonehead trades or spending lavishly on reject players. Thank you Gibbs and Dan Synder. Now I said that, I getting a feeling they will prove me wrong.

By the way, you guys (especially jm) are gonna love this. One of my clients booked BBM and Archie for a speaking engagement - the fee around $90,000. This was booked before the Super Bowl although the actual event is in June. After the Colts won the Super Bowl, Peyton came back and asked for $25,000 more!!! Please he is charging to sign footballs. Also, I read in the Post this week that he charged $200,000 to appear at a Sweet 16 Birthday Party.

Lisa- any respect I might have had for BBM is gone after hearing that. Dude's got like $35 mil guaranteed in his Colts contract, and millions more from all his endorsements. Then he does that sweet 16 thing (WTF?) and also has the nerve to ask for an extra $25K for your clients appearance. What a loser. cL, I gotta borrow it here. F BBM

One of those draft value tables that a lot of folks use (and others abuse) lists the sixth pick as 1600 points, the eighth as 1400 points. So, the difference is 200 points, the value of picks 8-12 in the third round -- exactly what you'd surmised.

OK, so now we have a rumor that Houston wants to swap picks. Redskins need to think smart on this one. If there is someone the Broncos want that would be at around pick #10, then the Redskins need to see if the Falcons have somebody in mind that might disappear at pick #8.

Maybe Houston wants Quinn so bad they overpay. It'd be nice to see someone besides the skins do that for a change. Although the haul SD got for LBM was pretty impressive. How'd you like to be a Texans fan. They could've had Bush or Vince Young last year. Now they have to trade up for....Quinn?

I don't see Bly happening anymore. Not because of the skins, but because Denver wouldn't want to make that deal. Skins also don't wanna miss out on Addams, Anderson, Okoye, and Branch, who will be gone before #21 (Denver's pick). That potential extra 3rd rounder from Houston is enough to draft a pretty good guard given their low value in the draft.

I also hope we can slide down once more if we get a pick around 12, we coudl probably still get brach or Okoye there, and pick up extra picks for OG, safety. I don't wanna slide past 15, as we need an impact DL

These are the type of players you get when you pic this High!Just because 2 of them no longer play with us(whos fault is that)is why you have to make the pic?I would rather have 1 of these players then 3 Maybes because thats the risk you take with any pic after #10,Always go with the sure thing!

Lisa- He must have left work early since he never responded. Either that, or NYPD will soon be responding to the report of a big muscular guy on the LIRR creating a disturbance yelling at passengers "Lisa...Lisa...are you Lisa?!" lol

We also could have passed on Lavar and taken Urlacher (granted, he was like the #6 pick), so just remember that there is not necessarily a huge benefit to taking the earlier guy (in this case, it would be Addams over Okoye or Branch. DE is more pressing for us, but Addams is undersized and would thus be bad to pair with Carter. I don't see any downside to us trading back, as long as we get one of those top 4.
Trading to #8, probably won't change who we get anyway. And dropping 2-4 picks more would only cost us maybe 1 more guy.

Steve, that surprises me. I'm happy to be wrong in this case though. Pretty good day on ESPN. Droughns to the Giants, Rhodes to Raiders. Talk about chasing the dollars, how can you go from the Colts to the Raiders? Latest mock draft had Skins taking Gaines Adams at #6 and Brady Quinn perhaps going to the Lions at #2.

Ok, if lions pass on Joe Thomas-OT from Wisconsin and he happens to slide - do the skins take him at 6 - rhetorical question - I don't see how that guy gets past Arizona at 5 anyway. I think their needs on defense are too great but it would be interesting.

skinswest, I hope BBM does donate his speaking fee to charity but it seems really strange that he would contract for one amount before the Super Bowl and then come back and ask for 25k more after the Super Bowl..for donation purposes.

Lauren's dude date is oficially in like 3 weeks, but Chloe came like two weeks early so I'm working thru next week then taking a bunch 'o time off.

Still making calls but hope to take the wife out to decent dinner while some friends baby sit tonight (this amounts to a momumental event for us - dinner, out - at this point in our lives.

As for McGahee, like i said I think the Ravens are having a bad offseason all around, The McNair deal for a 4th or whatever was one thing, but the last time they dealt multiple picks was for boller, which blew up in their face. Mcgahee is bigger than CP physically, but when both are healthy I'm taking Janky-Spanky 8 days of the week.

The Houston deal to me is not something they would jump out. They feel they can get 3 picks to move down around 15 and get their guy (of about 2-3 they really like). We'll see. If they moved to 8 I could see them trying to trade down again. If they stayed at 6 I couldn't see them taking anyone other than Anderson.

Oh yeah, and as the longtime listeners already knew from way back in training camp, even if he has a ring now BBM will always be a fraud. That dude is a contrived machine. The sweet 16 thing is without a doubt the biggest schmuck move in history and now Lisa's revelation on top. Man, I actually feel sorry for Eli haing to grow up with his automated big bro.

Love your blog, Jason! I know the latest talk ("latest" being TODAY) is all about the offensive line but, I'm on pins and needles about this business of a Dre Bly - Shawn Springs trade. I need someone to say definitely that... "IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!" With the other players' contracts restructuring, haven't the 'Skins kept enough cap room to keep Shawn with his contract "as is"? After the secondary's disasterous 2006 season, wouldn't the best of all worlds to be to have the depth at corner/safety that keeping Smoot, Springs, Fox, Rogers, Taylor, Jimoh, et al would provide? Please tell me Springs isn't going anywhere! If he does, I don't ever want to hear any coach at Redskins Park say the words, "...we want to keep the team together..." ever again! It'll be just like losing Ryan Clark all over again! Again, love your blog and your columns... Great stuff!

Dorf's MacBook came streaking it at 2pm today. Weighing 5.6 pounds and 13.3" long, the proud father immediately made Redskins Insider a bookmark on his internet browser.
He sends his thanks to all who helped in his decision.

From what I have read, let's not be surprised if Cleveland takes a QB at #3 - either Quinn or Russell, depending on what the Raiders do. Cleveland needs a real QB badly. (Charlie Frye is the latter day version of Gus Frerotte, minus the head-butt.) Also, don't forget the Cleveland-Notre Dame "Patriot" connection of Weis and Crennel. Crennel was at the ND Pro Day watching Quinn with much interest.

All the move-up scenarios at this point seem to be hanging on what happens with Trent Green and Jake Plummer. Green may end up in Oakland, which could change their draft pick. Plummer may still end up in Houston, which might change their interest in Quinn.

A draft day deal of #6 for #8 should bring a 2nd rounder. There is always the remote possibility it could bring David Carr instead.

Funny....John Clayton was asked tonight on ESPN what Free Agent signing was the biggest surprise.....he said Derrick Dockery....said it blew his mind and others that Dock would get signed to such a huge deal.

Even spending the ridiculous amount for Dockery, the Bills are going to be in a real fight with the Dolphins for last place in the AFC East. Even with all the crazy moves the Bills' FO has made so far, the fans still seem to be drinking the kool-aid. It should get really ugly up there by mid-season. (Would you want Methuselah and Moses as your owner and GM, respectively?)

though i'm not mad at bbm. i never had any respect for him and he didn't get any lower in my eyes by trying to get paid. i'm more p-ed off at people who actually pay that kinda money to people like him.

"The first hour was the actual birthday ceremony which included Manning hiding behind a cake with a baker's hat on, then Manning took off the hat and surprised the birthday girl and the rest of the crowd. The second hour was Peyton standing next to a background and a professional photographer, where the entire party lined up to take pictures with him one by one..."

We're sorry, but if you want Daddy to hire someone famous to attend your Sweet 16 party, and you pick Peyton Manning ... you're the lamest teenager we've ever seen. We love that of all the people in the above photo, Peyton's the one who looks like he's going through his awkward phase.

dids, honestly i have no idea why you can't walk around with a mac. did you sign a contract with MS? i thought you was done with them? btw...did you see the numbers warren buffet made $12 billion last year...he's "only" 4 behind gates now.

also MS is getting bad pub from the public sector and rightfully so. you're right about excel but dude! not everyone needs that power and there's no incentive for public govt. to upgrade to vista or newer office.

Diddy, I took a date to "Stranger than Fiction". She's in the military so she's pretty tough, but we agreed it was trite and overly precious. I just thought it stunk. What was that joke about flour? Lame.

Nate, Where do you hang when you come to the city? I generally don't go out with an 11 month old and all, but I'll see...Any other regular new yorkers on this blog? If so, where do you watch Skins games? I watched the Skins/Tampa playoff game last year at some dive in the city...it was beautiful. Mostly I just go to local westchester dives with NFL pass..but getting harder to do with the young one.

Anyhoo, was so happy to see a lebowski reference. I'm sort of new to the blog and I was initially psyched to see talk of The Wire in addition to skins. Now TBL...priceless.

I think Georgetown is going to pull it out.

I never really liked BBM. I really didn't like him when he threw his o-line under the bus after the loss to Pitt in Indy. I don't like how they owned us in that game this year either.

I too partook of the sweet sweet GM... but you're not going to catch me on this piece all weekend this go around...

just pulled out my Simpson's DVDs to try out the ol' MacBook's capabilities and stumbled upon Homer at the Bat. Haven't seen it in years. What genius. Mr. Burns giving Mattingly a hard time for his "sideburns" Classic. Cheers to all.

So I'm watching NFLN (with Lisa...) featuring the 74 Steelers -- what a mess! They're halfway through the season, all three QBs have been benched for cause, and the only reason they've won any games is the defense seems to be averaging about 140 turnovers/game.

The former University of Miami star fell out of favor in Buffalo. He was hit with three paternity suits in two years and he suggested in an interview with Penthouse magazine that the Bills should move to Toronto, saying later that those remarks were taken out of context.

OK, the Bly/Denver trade seems less and less likely, and the Houston swap is gaining ground. So if Okoye is our man, then let's swap with Buffalo, or Pittsburgh, after we swap with Houston. But which one of the rookies are considered pass-rushers?

So there's plenty of time to let other teams drive themselves nuts about the need to trade up to our #6 pick and get this or that player before someone else gets him.

We're in the catbird seat because we have the pick but have not shown we're locked in a specific dude. Though maybe it's debatable as to whether a team coming off a 5-11 season can accurately be said to be sitting in the catbird seat.

Just feels good not knowing what our FO is really up to, since that could indicate they have a plan and are not broadcasting that plan to the world and compromising any negotiating leverage they might have.

"Well, we lost the Duckett sweepstakes. I tell ya, the ongoing failure to resign these core redskins is an embarrassment.

Posted by: cload and daggar | March 9, 2007 11:17 PM"

cload (if this is the real cload), I'm not sure the Skins ever entered that sweepstakes. You can't win if you don't enter; come on, send it in. At this point, Duckett only would be necessary if they did trade Betts, which I'm thinking is wishful thinking by other teams and not going to happen. In this season of cap-forced rationality, having both Betts and Portis is the only 'luxury' on the roster. Finally, I don't think Duckett really fits into the 'core' Skins box. He never got the 700 page playbook; his was only 300 pages long (truthfully, I remember that quote when he signed ... about needing to learn his 300 page playbook).

Yesterday seemed like a preview of the time period btwn the draft and June 1. The desperation months. I followed all day and had NOTHING to offer. Yesterday, my image of the RI was a bunch of kids hanging around the locked locker room door at FedEx field, after having broken into the otherwise locked and vacant stadium, and everyone was waiting around for JLC to come by to pick the lock, run in to read notes in trash cans, and then run back out to tell everyone about it. In the meantime, lots of chit chat about nothin (Seinfeldesque). I love this place. TCCLs all the way around, esp. charlie's Native American trigonometry joke.

I might have been a little sarcastic with the Duckett info. He's a man that couldn't get on the field because his one-yard-and-a-cloud-of-dust style didn't fit the skins offense.
It might improve the Lions.

But it's a rhetorical nod to the 'Dockery will be missed DENIAL' point of view. I always wanted to ask him -- if Dockery went down in week one, that's it for the season, right?

Amy, I don't know who the heck you are as I have never seen you on here before. But don't try to give me advice. I book sports figures all the time -it's the business I am in - and I know they charge enormous fees and most of them charge for signing footballs, baseballs, basketballs, etc. However, my point about Peyton was that AFTER the Super Bowl he increased a fee he had ALREADY CONTRACTED for by $25,000 - which is just greedy.

And I shared this with my fellow bloggers because I supported the Colts during the Super Bowl while lots of them were supporting the Pats because of their dislike of Peyton. If you had been reading at that time you would have known this.

cload,only time will tell on any deal, and we can only speculate on FAs & Draft picks in 2007? What we can do is dicuss all the moves since Gibbs was brought back to bring winning back to the Redskins??

So -- yes, we have four months to kill (imperceptible nod to 4th), so we can start to discuss what Spurrier left for Gibbs to clean up, and how he's gone about it.
The list of draft picks is one part of it, but you also have to assess undrafted free agents as well as high-priced pickups.
I don't know where to get the more complete list -- anyone?
We can start at QB -- Spurrier screwed the pooch on that position, with the Florida boys locked and loaded to serve as the model for Patrick "happy feet" Ramsey. Discuss...

No relation to P Diddy.... although I did use that moniker on a RI blog last week. Seems like there is a SHABINGUS of people using the moniker on many blogs I visit around the 'net'.

Anyway, Does anyone know how PP knee rehab is going? I think he starts if he is healthy, and like Clark was a tackling machine when in the game. I love him next to the Meast with Springs a hybrid 5th DB whether it be a CB or FS on passing downs. Then in Running situations bring in ArchDeluxe to crowd the line in a Grilliams scheme of 3 - 3 - 5.

Also, as a NB Springs will save his body from the hits and he should be able to stay relatively healthy.... I think that makes a formidible Defensive Secondary, assuming Smooooooooooooooot is still the CB he was in DC, not the one he was in Norsetown.

Community Note: Lisa dropped the hammer on Amy.... don't run into her in a dark alley!!

I say trade down to whatever position gives us the most picks, might just reverse the ills of the last few years.

Since this draft is deep on DL, move down to 21st or 15th, whereever, because it would essentially take the decision on who to draft out of our hands. Then we can just see who was rated in the first round, which will be less choices, increasing our chance of making the right pick since everyone else has thinned out the herd!!

I think our record speaks for itself in terms of the scouting department.... Cooley is the only one to exceed expectations coming from the 3rd round.... Rodgers not much yet, Taylor regresses without heady player next to him, JC improving but a 1st round pick, not really.

"Gee, someone already uses the P Diddy name here. I guess I can't use it now, but since I am so cool and so entitled, I will just call myself 'Diddy the 2nd'".

On the other hand, maybe you could put your ego in your pocket and come up with a different name out of the 10 million or so that are currently avilable and unused. I think "Dimwit" is available. It seems to fit you well, and it's catchy too.

wow! why you people think "p diddy" is so "cool" is beyond me. the guy is bill gates of rap world. bill gates isn't cool. he's just rich.

let me explain my analogy. diddy would've been sean combs had he not had big E killed. big E and tu pac being the best ever IMNSHO. i can't think of one bit that diddy has done that was good. he just profited from someone else's tragedy and fame and WORK (just like mr. gates)!!!

I never thought Diddy was cool. I think he has profited from Mr Smalls' death. To this day he makes duckets off of seeling unreleased music, almost like Biggie isn't dead (ooh, conspiracy? for another day perhaps).

My firend gave me that nickname back in 1996 in college, and it has stuck ever since. At this point it has lost all connection to Sean Combs since my initials ar PD.

about the conspiracy...i think it's a no brainer. whenever either husband/wife dies they always look at the beneficiary first. motive. in this case and almost every other wrongful death was money. and they blamed it on "east-west rap war". perfect alibi.

Also with Tupac, he is still releasing albums. Although he did have an enemy in Suge. Stayed close to him, acted his friend and then bumped him off. Sad, the golden era of Rap was dead the day they both were killed. Ever since it has been the Hot Boys and weak ass artists which is rap that i could write.

i honestly think barba should take the money from XXX film makers/producers. or playboy if they come calling. cuz you have to have some sort of talent to put this kinda pub behind you. why not make lemonade.

something about her looks makes her absolutely hot...(and no it's not just the boobs)

Yeah on QB but Gibbs brought Brunell in his 1st yr who was a proven vet? so this position according to gibbs was not an issue?

Posted by: steve | March 10, 2007 10:26 AM

As Old School pointed out yesterday, I think QB as a position has changed markedly since Gibbs I; Brunell always struck me as a good QB, kinda like Thiesmann or Rypien, with some skill, a glaring weakness or two, but someone who was a "get the job done" type. Certainly, during his early career I remember a few games where he made the critical difference for the Jaguars.
But the league today puts much more pressure on the QB to come with the complete game, and they will pounce on any weakness they can identify. For Brunell, when it was clear he couldn't throw long and had lost a step [still more mobile than many, but...], it became a lot easier to defend against the skins. The fact that the O-line got dominated early in the season definitely didn't help, but some of that was due to Brunell being back there.

So now, Gibbs has realized that an elite QB is a necessity. Enter Jason Campbell, SouperStar (JCS).
I think that JCS has the raw materials to be an outstanding pro QB - size, toughness, a strong arm, mental toughness, the right emotional makeup -- he showed flashes of all of these things last year.
But -- always a but there -- he has some glaring technical issues that could be troublesome. His release is long and slow, which will cause interceptions. He holds the ball to low, which will cause fumbles. When he threw bad interceptions last year, they were almost all these dangerous passes in the flat that get returned for TDs. [Thinking of the two against Philly as prime examples.]
My opinion is that the coaches stopped calling that type of play -- particularly in the red zone -- because the risks were not worth it. But a defense that doesn't respect that play can lurk back and look a lot better than they really are.

I agree with your comments on JC. His mental toughness is what impresses me the most. Hopefully we can correct the little things. I once heard someone say that the little things are the easiest to correct on a QB, footwork, timing etc. It is the intangibles that cannot be taught. I think Jason has all the intangibles.

PDsquared: That explanation may have helped Cload but, unfortunately, trying to teach a Jewish kid from the New York suburbs about rap history by using references to Nascar drivers probably won't cut it.

A man rushed into a busy doctor's office and shouted "Doctor! I think I'm shrinking!!" The doctor calmly responded, "Now, settle down.
You'll just have to be a little patient."

-

A marine biologist developed a race of genetically engineered dolphins that could live forever if they were fed a steady diet of seagulls. One day, his supply of the birds ran out so he had to go out
and trap some more. On the way back, he spied two lions asleep on the road. Afraid to wake them, he gingerly stepped over them. Immediately, he was arrested and charged with transporting gulls across sedate lions for immortal porpoises.

-

A famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and found his name missing from the town register. His wife insisted on complaining to the local civic official who apologized profusely saying, "I must
have taken Leif off my census."

-

A skeptical anthropologist was cataloging South American folk remedies with the assistance of a tribal brujo who indicated that the leaves of a particular fern were a sure cure for any case of
constipation. When the anthropologist expressed his doubts, the brujo looked him in the eye and said, "Let me tell you, with fronds like these, who needs enemas?"

Well, we'll bone you when you're riding down the street,
We'll bone you on your back or on your feet;
We'll bone you when you're drinking in a bar,
We'll bone you when you're riding in your car;
Oh, I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get boned.

When are we gonna get some Skins news? A Wade re-signing, Mulitalo visit, Cooley extension, something.

Just checking my email on comcast and see a picture of Rosie O'Donnell. Every time I see her I can't help but think she is the most annoying fattest person walking the face of this earth. My random thought.

In the house. Had to spend all evening learning about NASCAR, since someone called my bluff comparing New Rap City to Go Left Fast.

True story: the software I'm working on is built by a group whose acronym is vaguely like NASCAR. So someone gets the idea of codenaming the next few releases after NASCAR numbers/drivers.
No one could keep track of what Number went with what driver; at least, that was what we blamed the first schedule slip on...

My favorite project codename was Jezebel -- we knew going in that there was going to be backstabbing, demon-worship, and ultimately a lot of blood on the walls.
The next release was codenamed abbatoir. The customer found out about that one... it didn't go over so well.

Well, I'm brokenhearted. The Wiz just lost by 1 point to the Knicks! They let "Cry Baby" Steve Francis and "I can't wait to leave the Wiz and play for Isiah" Jarrod Jeffries come into their house and beat them! And tomorrow night we have to travel to Miami and play the resurgent Heat team with a suddenly ageless Shaq. It will be another sure loss for the Wiz - a blow out loss. The Heat have become the Eagles of the NBA.

Can't take it!

Thanks for letting me vent - I know this is not football or Redskins related.

Kind of a bummer to get off my chest. Sorry for the Saturday night bring-down. If I had my own blog I'd post this there, but I don't, and you guys are my extended internet family, so here goes.

Before we moved west last year, we decided to simplify and downsize a bit, and one of the toughest decisions we made was to part ways with one of our two dogs.

Both were medium-sized, active dogs, and since we would be renting when we got here -- among other logistical complications -- we decided to find a new home for one of them.

We had our first dog, my wife's favorite, and our second dog, Lucy, my favorite. She was dumb as a rock, had terrible breath, was lazy and goofy-looking, and shedded fur like a snowstorm. She had a tattoo on her belly (maybe she started life as a hunting pack dog) in the unmistakable shape of the letter N... for Nate, I always liked to think. I loved that damn dog.

When we made this low-grade version of Sophie's choice, of course it was 'my' dog who went to live with a new family in MD, and Mrs. Nate's dog who came west with us in the covered wagon. But we knew Lucy had a great family to live with, and a new 'boyfriend' dog to hang out with all day. A difficult choice, but all things considered it was a good outcome.

So we heard yesterday from her new family that my beloved Lucy got very sick and passed away. My sweet, dumb, floppy-eared girl.

If they didn't give us so much love and joy, it wouldn't hurt this much. I am heartsick.

Again, sorry for this, but I wanted to get this little memorial out there, a bit of catharsis.

And cload, you were absolutely right about the long distance dedication thing.

"I want a g**damn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a f***ing up-tempo record every time I gotta do a death dedication! It's the last g**damn tim. I want somebody who uses his f***ing brain to not come out of a g**damn record that's up-temp and I've got to talk about a f***ing dog dying! Boy, this it f***ing ponderous, man."

Nate - didn't hurt to have a little liquor in me, but that is one of the funniest rants in the history of radio.

If only jm220 had a quick shout of 'panties!' just before, we'd have had the perfect up-tempo intro...

Anyway, I have a picture of our first dog in one of her rare, placid moments sitting in front of her 'perch' -- the window from which she served neighborhood watch -- just about to fall asleep. Hopefully, you have at least one pic that captures Lucy's essence.

Nate, my brother had a dog that he gave to me after he got orders to Arizona... I had her for a while but my landlord found out about her and she had to stay with my parents for a while... basically Zoe turned into the family dog that everyone loved and took part in caring for... she got hit by a car two years ago and it about broke my family's heart... Its the weirdest thing, sobbing over a dead dog. But no other creature on earth gives you that unconditional love... Its awful, and my new floppy eared, socially awkward but quirkishly endearing replacement dog with never take Zoe's place... so you gotta just remember the good times with Lucy and laugh about her "other" times :) Don't feel ashamed to show emotion over a dog. Any dog owner who has a soul can empathize with you. Best!

Why do dog lovers have to hate on cats? I love both, I just live a cat lifestyle. I need an animal that can take a crap on its own, thanks. Sorry about your pup, Nate. I was just over a friend's place and he has a part-coyote dog that is awesome. I hooked that boy up with some sweet tenderloin.

A 'tater' related story:
last year at a group golf outing, we were getting some heat from the starter to get off the practice tee and get moving.
The gentleman whose house we were using started to push a couple of guys to their carts. from another cart, we heard:
Guy 1: "What a dictator!"
Guy 2: "yeah, without the tater!"

Any new news on Springs. I hope that the Redskins do not deal him. I just don't understand why they think that they need to deal fro Bly. Granted, Bly is good corner, but I think that Springs is just as good and is also a team leader.

It annoyes me that everytime we finally think that Redskins get it, they pull this type of crap.

I would like to see the Redskins come out, say Springs is our man and maybe even sign him to a two year extension.

I'm with you on that, BT. Of course that comes as no surprise to anyone on here - they all know how much I love Springs.

Doc Walker was on Full Court Press last night and he said that he had talked with Bly at the NBA All Star game. Apparently the Skins had a verbal agreement with Detroit for Bly. This was "pre Smoot". Bly told Walker he was excited to be coming to DC - Doc said it was because of the $$$. Then Millen was offered a better deal from Denver.

For the record, My Vista machine handled DST fine and dandy. So did all of my gadgets, as it were.

Unfortunately, the "City" of Seattle didn't fare so well. My survey from the rooftop deck shows a great deal of carnage and destruction. Seattle looks like a bleak, post-apocalyptic disaster area. I hope FEMA sends help soon. And hot women and cold beer, too.

Catching up on pop culture stuff, this past week I saw 'Night at the Museum' and 'Casino Royale' on the airplane, and 'Stranger than Fiction' on the netflix. (What can I say, it's catch as catch can, and I'm usually way behind on my cultural literacy.)

I need to see the Bond film again, it was mighty good but heavily edited for the airplane audience.

'Fiction' was pretty good, I thought it was not the most original story but very well done. Will Ferrell was good, abandoning the manchild act at least this once. Maggie Gyllenhall has that certain something... she's foxy as hell. And in a supporting role was Tony Hale, television's Buster Bluth! Awesome.

Lisa, did you miss the bottom-dropping and bubble-bursting of last year? My neighborhood is literally blighted by for sale signs. I think I'd trade my house for Skins preseason tix and a couple of dime bags at this point.

I like cats that act like cats. I don't like cats (or dogs for that matter) that act like Paris Hilton. My cats, heck you could grab one, dunk him in a soapy bucket, and wash the car with him. Totally chill. Congrats and good luck with the house Nate.

I am very sorry to hear about Lucy. I have been around animals, mostly dogs until recently, my whole life, and it is very hard to see them go. My wife and I got our first cat, who also was named Lucy, about 10 years ago. We already had two Cairn terriers. Sadly, Lucy died when she was only five years old. I still miss her. We now have two dogs and three cats in the house and a few more critters outside. They are like children in a way and sure bring joy to our lives. You have my sincerest sympathy on Lucy's passing.

yeah lisa, it's pretty bad. BUT i hear that dc realestate market is still strong. friend of mine had to compete last fall for a house by cleveland park/national zoo. it's the suburbs/exurbs that got hit the most.

people started treating it like a stock market...i saw people buying 2 houses/putting contracts on at a time...

Nate sorry to hear about the loss of your dog. I know how heartbreaking that can be.

Sean "Puffy" "Puff Daddy" "P Diddy" "Diddy" Combs did not have Biggie killed. It hurt Bad Boy records. B.I.G was the franchise. Why kill the franchise to sell unreleased material that wasn't good enough to be released when it was recorded when you could have had the real thing going "multi till I die"? And it's Biggie's mom along with Diddy who's profiting now. She says Biggie's upcoming greatest hits CD will be the last release of his music.

Pac on the other hand may have been killed on orders of Marion "Suge" Knight because he was unhappy about his royalties and was trying to get out of his deal with Death Row.

Old school hip hop: "The B-I-G-D-A-Double D-Y-K-A-N-E good plenty, serving many and any"

Funny thing -- on a family walk in the neighborhood, just a few blocks from the house we are hopefully buying, saw a 'Go Redskins' sign proudly displayed by a front door. Talk about a good sign, welcome to the neighborhood and so forth.

Next time I walk by, I'll look a little closer, for the telltale satellite dish which could indicate my sports bar days are over...

Nate, I am so sorry about Lucy. Nothing hurts more than having to say goodbye to our purveyors of unconditional love. Mrs Hayes and I had to put one of our little guys down in January and the emotions are still raw. My heart goes out to you guys.

On a positive, congrats on the new house! Seems like Portland was the right move for you. You and Diddy have me convinced- I'm adding 'Fiction' to our list.

I just finished the documentary 'Comedian', which follows Jerry Seinfeld as he attempts a comeback to stand-up. Great stuff- awesome backstage antics with Gary Shandling, Colin Quin, Chris Rock, etc.

There were some stinkers in the mix though- 'The Return'...what a piece. Love the supernatural thrillers and the wife and I are big Buffy fans, but what the hell is SMG doing? 'Scooby Doo'? 'The Grudge'? 'The Return' ? C'mon! A new Buffy feature length film would be brilliant.

Watched the oldie but goodie 'Fahrenheit 451'...it's amazing how many elements of Bradbury's cautionary sci-fi tale have come true in these modern times.

I finally had a chance to share 'Road House' with the wife who to my shock and dismay had never had the pleasure. Classic 80's action cheese that stands the test of time. 'Pain don't hurt'

Lastly, we got out of the house to see '300' which was fantastic from start to finish... and if I can go on a limb, better than the graphic novel. I like to think of the blog as the hot gates, the AC's as the Persians and us of course, as the Spartans.

Definitely second the motion to keep the Yahoo league. I just did all my research (looking up cheerleader team photos) and locked my picks. May the hottest cheerleaders win.

Hey, here's a question for all the basketball fans. What is the ref doing when he's moving his arm around and counting? When does he count, when doesn't he count? It seems pretty arbitrary to me. Sorry, not a huge basketball fan :-)

Well, we have our official test case.... since the Pats have signed EVERYBODY (Thomas, Brady, and now Stallworth), this must be the year that splurging in FA is better than keeping our draft picks. If we do better than 3-13, it'll be amazing.
Either that or the Pats are "just one player" away from the Super Bowl, but decided to cover their bases on which "one" player it is.

it's really simple. bellichoke figured out kurt warner. he figured out archie's boy. now he needs to figure out how to stop dinks and dunks of archie's boy. and i'm willing to bet that he's the one who figures out how to stop short/medium passes while still protecting against bombs.

BUT if i was him or any other coach i'd take away the short passes and take my chances on bombs. it'll at least keep my defense fresh.

Well, the Pats were one of the two or three teams form whom Thomas made sense. And they definitely needed to upgrade at WR. But to go out and get two WRs in addition to Thomas is ... interesting ... particularly since they could have a pretty good shot at a WR late in the first round.
It's not quite like the skins -- they still have their two #1s -- but they threw out the 7th rounder to seal the deal with Welker, almost as an afterthought.

Nate, sorry about your loss. I've been a dog and cat person my whole life (plus hamsters, fish, a mouse once, a ferret, others). Losing the first was the worst. I think I had a few hamsters die on me, but I don't remember them. I remember when my first dog died. Horrible day. Also stands out as freshman year homecoming, including my first dance. Dog loss was way worse than freshman awkwardness. Anyway, new home sounds great, esp. the hood w/Skins potential. First home too or no?

My soul is shriveling in the absence of off-season news. Not even any visits scheduled as far as I can tell. And the real March Madness doesn't start till Thursday. I have this sneaking feel like work is going to explode (one of those laws about things expanding to fill the time alloted).

On Saturday, Mrs. dcsween took the daughters to colonial W-burg to meet up with my inlaws. Didn't get my poker game planned till too late. End up hanging with an old college buddy. A little bit of chit chat about the rumor about the Packer trade for Betts. My buddy, not a big Betts fan, reminded me about the critical fumbles, then compared Betts #s to Clinton's. Being a positive guy and wanting to not talk about Betts, I shifted the conversation to Portis.

How psyched am I about a healthy Portis returning? Really psyched. His play actually improves the longer he is on the field. Feed him 25 carries and he carries the offense. Lots of my posts are Taylor-centered hyperbole, but is it even possible to hyperbolize Portis? Plus he is a year YOUNGER than Betts. Love the Portis. OK, that concludes the Skins-related portion of this post. Thank you and good night.

Portis, Santana, Cooley, a stout O-line + Sellers, and a level-headed young man to lead them in Soupy Campbell. That's a LOT to be excited about.

But dcsween, you're right, it all starts and ends with Portis, and we should be happy he's had the long recuperation period. He is to our offense what Springs has been to our defense, as proven when either of them is off the field.

Yeah, one of the best things about Portis is that -- while he gives and takes a lot of punishment -- his legs are in good shape overall. Knee injuries are bad news, but even ankle injuries will slow down a runner just enough to take away that extra gear that the truly elite seem to have. And when that fails you, the trip from elite to retired is not that long...

Nate sorry about your loss, ugh is all I can say cause I know how it feels but hey congrats on the house! I myself cannot afford Barbie's Dreamhouse much less a real one but am working on it.

I am pleased to announce that my soccer team won it's 2nd game of the season and that unlike week 1 where I enjoyed a keystone cop pratfall/tumble/total wipeout 15 feet away from any other person I played and even managed to kick the ball in the right direction to a player on my own team several times. VICTORY IS MINE!

Yes kids it's slow in the offseason, so slow I am sharing my soccer team news with you cause some of you coked up hamsters will use it as a 10 second fix. . . I do what I can for my peeps here at RI.

Did the little and newest La Toucanfora maybe come early?
I think we should get a blog gift for J-La or is that like super stalkerish creepy - "Stay away from my family or I'll have to call jm220 in with his hammer."?

Is it appropriate for a baby to wear something with the word shabingus on it?

1) a team has ten seconds to move the ball from the backcourt/defensive area into the frontcourt/offensive area after inbounding into the backcourt (whether after a made hoop or out-of-bounds or turnover by the other guys).

2) when in the frontcourt/offensive area with the ball, a player who is closely guarded (within 5' or something) by an opposing player can only maintain the ball - whether dribbling or holding it - for five seconds. You often see the ref indicate that the 5 second count is off by moving his hands wide apart - as if indicating the length of the sturgeon he caught that weekend - to show that the defender has moved far enough away from the man with the ball that he is no longer guarding him closely. Onus (I have a love/hate relationship with that word) is actually on the defender, dee-lah.

3) an offensive player can be in the painted area (the proverbial paint) under his scoring basket for only 3 seconds at a time. Rarely do you actually see this called, let alone see the ref moving his arm.

4) foul shooter has 10 secs to shoot the ball once in his possession.

5) you have 5 secs to inbound after the ref hands you the ball

That's about all I can think of.

I used to be a reffing dork - at the same time I was a playing dork. Plus I just felt like communing at this time o' night. Hope it helps SOMEBODY, if not P Diddy.

New idea for how to proceed if trading down. FIRST thing, is do the trade down with Chicago, not Denver. Said this before, but the Skins must be like the Soup Nazi to Denver re: trades. NO TRADE FOR YOU! In the Chicago move, the Skins could also try to pick up their #2 TE, a guy named John Gilmore, who has everything anyone could want in a blocking TE with upside re: age. THEN, with the resulting low first round pick, go for the defensive TACKLE. There is going to be a run on DEs b/c not only is there lots of quality there, its the new positional need in the latest evolution of passing offenses ... disrupt the TE at the line ... then release and go for tip if not sack. The hope on this step is that Okoye is there. If necessary, jump up a few with somebody else with the 5th round pick. Then, in the second round pick (from Chicago), go for the defensive end. Carriker should be gone by this time, maybe even Abiamiri (ND). But the guy I like, who LOTS of mock drafts have as the 9th or 10th DE because he is newish to football and the position (though exponential improvement over time) is this guy from Hawaii, Ikaika Alama-Francis. Admittedly, second round may be too high to burn on him (esp. if he can safely be projected to be there in the 5th round), but my point is that the Day One quality DE class is plenty deep that the Skins could use the second of two 'trade down' picks at DE. Frankly, the DT in the first round part of this idea could be swapped out for a CB in the first round ... thus ending the Bly chatter ... and giving Golston and Montgomery the chance to become the DTs we thought they were.

If there is no Skins news, we need to make it up (it being conversation topics). I'm thinking this week will be a long string of crap signings eclipsed by March Madness dominated news.

This bit was in SI.com's "Truth and Rumors" and inspired my Chicago trade scenario above. The one I didn't spin out was one with Houston, but is there anyone there the Skins might want/need? Or do you think that might just be about picks? Note that Houston would only move up two picks (and encore re: the Texans being better than the Skins this past year ... groan).

"Three teams that would like to move up in the draft are Denver, Houston and possibly Chicago. Teams that may want to slide down and pick up an extra pick or two, include Cleveland, Arizona and Washington.
-- Trenton Times"

AMTTS, did the term "tightness", and the necessity of maximizing this quality on one's professional football team, happen to come up on the Junks? 106.7 doesn't come in so well up herr in central CT . . . it gets drowned out by the polka station out of New Bri'in.

They were doing the 'sports page' segment. They mentioned some of the off-season moves of the Pats, then talked about what the skins had done. The following exchange occured (from memory)

'The Redskins guy...from the Post. La Contrafora...is that how you say his name?'

-'La Confra...'

'Yeah, he has a Redskins blog on the Post site. The dude is silly. He updates it like every our with what's going on in free agency. He called like all of the skins moves. But, he basically said it's a lock that if they want to get Bly, they can make the moves and still be under the cap.'

-'is Bly that silly?'

-'Is he well respected?'

'Pro Bowl guy. Yeah, pro bowl in Carolina and Detroit. La Confora said it's a lock that they could get him if they want.'

-'Is he money with his picks?'

'Yeah, the dude has been money calling all the moves by the team.'

-'They'll still be bad. They didn't address that D-line.'

'They'll do it in the draft.'

-'They have 1 quality lineman, and Griffin is hurt all the time. You can't draft 3 starters.'

'They also need to replace Dockery.'

-'They stink.'

'ok, we gotta take a break. Coming up, we've got WWE diva Ashley. Super hottie, on the cover of Playboy this month. We're the junkies...'

AMMTS, outstanding memory. Thanks. Do you have an audiographic memory? My wife says I have a videographic memory ... if I see it once on TV or a movie, I can remember and recite months later. If only I could remember where I parked the car.

p.s. Jason IS money on his predictions. Good to see the props appropriately given.